Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Imgur, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter.....Social media has transformed the way moms live their lives for better or worse.
If you're old enough to remember, Myspace was our first official taste of a real social network. It allowed us to connect with friends and family by sharing posts with pictures and videos. When Facebook came along it took our social media experience to whole new level, filling our lives with information, connecting everyone and also causing anxiety. Now with multiple social media platforms and other apps providing pseudo social media feeds our whole lives are spent online.
So what does this really mean for moms? Moms take to social media to announce their pregnancy, birth, milestones, school pictures and more. BUT they also use social media to connect with other moms, share their recipes, create viral videos, do fundraisers, to complain and the list goes on. Moms clammer onto social media because it is their outlet for all aspects of their lives.
The positive is social media has helped moms to get connected with their friends, family and other moms with the same values. It has provided entertainment with an hour filled with scrolling and catching up with everyones' lives. Social media has also broken some barriers and made news easily accessible as it happens; a must have for the safety of our children.
We can even go live on multiple platforms to share our day as it happens. (As I'm writing this my phone continues to light up with people and companies going live.) BUT what about the negative side of social media. Mom life has quickly become polarized by differing views and has revealed layers of our society we didn't even know where there. Moms will fight over breastfeeding, breast pumping and baby formula. They will fight over politics, privilege and the proper way to raise a child. Moms will even alienate one another to get ahead on social media. It will pit mom against mom just for the views and likes. And to that extent it has created social and emotional disorders.
Social media has gravely hindered the way we communicate in real life and has managed to make more people depressed because they compare their lives to what their friends post. I can confidently say it has made more moms assholes.
It all sounds so sad and innovative all in one. Sad that we are tethered to these platforms and innovative because of how connected we all are. It's a necessary evil. Just as necessary as the phone you're holding right now. Mom life has forever been changed, manipulated, improved, destroyed and harnessed all because of social media.